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On March 24, 2015 Alexis Tsipras visited the field of stelae and the exhibition of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, accompanied by the Greek Ambassador Panos Kalogeropoulos.

The Greek Prime Minister was greeted by Uwe Neumärker, director of the foundation, Ulrich Baumann, assistant director and Lea Rosh, president of the Association for the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe.

After a brief introduction by Mr. Neumärker in the field of stelae Alexis Tsipras received a guided tour of the exhibition at the Information Centre.

The Prime Minister was interested in particular in how the persecution of the Greek Jews is presented in the exhibition, such as the fate of the David family from Ioannina, most of whom were murdered in Auschwitz. Theirs is one of 15 family stories shown in the Room of Families. The tour was accompanied by an intense exchange and numerous questions by Mr. Tsipras.

At the end of the tour Mr. Tsipras signed his name in the visitors’ book and noticed: »Knowledge of history can strengthen us, even if it hurts, so that we work together to ensure that humanity never experiences such pain again.«

The visit to the Holocaust Memorial was a private visit during his stay in Germany. Alexis Tsipras is the first Greek Prime Minister who visited the Holocaust Memorial.

The Greek city of Thessaloniki remembered its nearly 50,000 Jews sent to Nazi death camps during World War II. A memorial marking the 72nd anniversary of the roundup and deportation of Thessaloniki Jews was held Saturday, ahead of March 15th, the day when the first Jewish convoy left the city.

Participants placed flowers on train tracks where the Jews were taken away in cattle cars headed for Auschwitz-Birkenau, The Associated Press reported.

In March 1943, the Nazis began sending Jews in railway convoys to Auschwitz-Birkenau. By August, 49,000 of the city’s prewar population of 55,000 Jews had been deported. Fewer than 2,000 survived.

March 12, 2015 – Athens -- A senior AJC leadership group just concluded a two-day visit to Greece.

The six-member delegation, led by AJC President Stanley Bergman and Executive Director David Harris, was joined by leaders of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS), an AJC partner organization, and Andrew Manatos, a prominent leader of the Hellenic-American community.

The visit was highlighted by a private meeting with recently-elected Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras. During the discussion, Tsipras spoke of his commitment to addressing Greece's very difficult economic situation, and reaffirmed his country's ties with the U.S., the European Union, and Israel. Moreover, he underscored his strong commitment to denouncing all forms of anti-Semitism.

The group also met with other senior Greek officials, including Defense Minister Panos Kammenos; Minister of Culture, Education, and Religious Affairs Aristides Baltas; Alternate Foreign Minister Nikolaos Hountis (a previously confirmed meeting with the Foreign Minister was cancelled due to his illness); President of the New Democracy political party and former Prime Minister Antonis Samaras; and President of the Potami political party Stavros Theodorakis.

Following the arson attack on the Greek Orthodox Dormition Abbey of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece sent the following letter to His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem. The President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece Mr. Moses Constantinis had a telephone conversation with Patriarch Theophilos whom he assured of the Greek Jewry’s solidarity. Mr. Constantinis also condemned this hideous arson attack, as well as all fanatic elements regardless of origins. The letter to the Greek Orthodox Partiarch of Jerusalem reads:

“Your Beatitude,

We were informed of the arson attack on the Greek Orthodox Seminary of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The Greek Jewry whole heartedly stands by you and condemns this violent act against the historic Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

We are sure that the Authorities do their utmost to trace down, arrest and punish the culprits, as appropriate to all those who commit hate crimes, most importantly when they target religious institutions. We stand against such fanaticism that aims at driving mankind into the darkness, and we confront it together with Your Beatitude and all Christians, Muslims and Jews alike, by promoting the light of love, understanding and respect of diversity”.

The Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece strongly condemns the terror attacks in Copenhagen that once more targeted the freedom of speech and the Jews alike.

The Greek Jewry expresses its outrage and sorrow over the fact that innocent people, among whom our coreligionists, have once again been the victims of fanaticism, bigotry and anti-Semitism.

The policy of the rhetoric condemnation of such phenomena by itself does not provide either sufficient or efficient confrontation of the issue. The State, the Church, the Institutions and the social factors in our country have the moral obligation to undertake coordinated and multy-faced efforts which must combine measures for the immediate prevention with long-term projects. To this end we stress the important role of Education and Culture.

January 26, 2015 -- New York -- AJC congratulated Alexis Tsipras, head of the Syriza political party, which convincingly won Greece’s national elections yesterday. Tsipras will serve as prime minister in the next government, succeeding Prime Minister Antonis Samaras.

“Greece continues to face enormous economic and social challenges that will engage the incoming government from day one. We wish the new leaders success, hoping they will continue the country's principal orientation toward the European Union,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “Moreover, in recent years, Greece has built strong, mutually beneficial ties with Israel, and fostered closer quadrilateral relations among the United States, Israel, Cyrpus and itself, which we also trust will remain a pillar of Greece's international outlook.”

On the occasion of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorated worldwide on 27 January, the British Embassy co-organised with the Jewish Community in Thessaloniki a series of events in memory of the Jews of Thessaloniki victims and survivors of the Holocaust, on 24 January 2015. The events were under the auspices of the UK International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Chairmanship which the UK assumed in February 2014.

Joined by the President of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki David Saltiel, the British Ambassador John Kittmer laid a wreath on behalf of the members and observers of IHRA at a ceremony that took place at the Holocaust Memorial. Earlier on the day, representatives of the diplomatic corps in Greece received a tour at the Jewish Museum and historic sites in Thessaloniki, such as the ‘Monastiriotes’ Synagogue, the Baron Hirsch neighbourhood near the Railroad Station, where the city’s Jews were deported from to Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps, and the University, the site of the old Jewish Cemetery.

The General National elections held in Greece on January 25, 2015, resulted in the victory of the SYRIZA party of the Left, and positioned the neonazi party of Golden Dawn in the third place, after having gained the 6.3% of the vote. In the aftermath of the elections, the President of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece Mr. Moses Constantinis, from Krakow, where he arrived today as part of the Greek National Delegation, which will attend tomorrow the ceremony in Auschwitz marking the International Holocaust Remembrance, made the following statement:

“We congratulate SYRIZA, the winning party of yesterday’s elections, and convey our best wishes. The Greek Jewish Community, the oldest in Europe and an integral part of the Greek society, has always supported the national struggles and has contributed to the progress of the country and will continue to do so by supporting the next government, in confidence that stability will be consolidated and development will continue so that the country fully overcomes the crisis.